Speeches by Rhodes.

“Thanks. Professor Naylor?”

“Thank you. Dr Sayers?”

“Thank you, Chair. I will try to be quite quick in terms of the question and if you can keep your answers fairly short as well, so I do not fall out with the Chair for dragging the meeting on any longer than need be.”

“A question around resources is: do we have enough resources at the moment in terms of resilience measures, and if the answer is no, where are the pinch points, where are the problems in terms of funding? If there was one thing you would pick out that needs extra resources what would it be? I will put that to all of you…”

“I mean primarily financially in terms of if we are not putting enough money in at the moment where would you say the priorities are for extra money?”

“Thank you. Professor Naylor?”

“Professor McDonagh?”

“Thank you. Professor Hall?”

“My next question is moving on from the finances to the governance. One of the things that was mentioned in the discussion with the previous panel was the idea of bringing together agencies in terms of having an agency that was dealing with a whole range of issues around flooding resilience in terms of monitoring, forec…”

“Before I move on, so you would see more merit in the idea of greater co-ordination maybe at a regional level in terms of co-ordinating the different bodies rather than creating a super body, as you put it?”

“Thanks. Professor Naylor?”

“In 2023, the Low Pay Commission estimated that approximately 13,500 employees who lived in Glasgow were paid at or below the relevant minimum wage—4.8% of all employees living in the city. What assessment has the Minister made of the impact of the Government’s “Make Work Pay” initiative for those workers and others in …”

“Would my hon. Friend agree that an underlying problem is not only the size of the proposed increase, but the arbitrary nature of the level? As has been mentioned, perhaps it is linked to the skilled workers level, but that seems to be an arbitrary figure as well. Would he agree that we need to ensure that people out th…”

“I agree with my hon. Friend—I am not used to agreeing with so many people. It seems unusual, but I will carry on. My hon. Friend makes an important point, and if we can increase participation by looking at the processes in place, we should welcome that. It is important to look at all the systems. However, simply changi…”

“My hon. Friend asks whether I am saddened and surprised; I am saddened. It is important that while we make it easier to apply online for postal and proxy votes, we do not take away any ability to apply via paper, and I welcome the fact that the legislation does not do that. Many do not have access to digital means of a…”

“I certainly agree that it is important to see the Scottish Government and the United Kingdom Government working together.”

“I absolutely agree, and it is important that we look to increase the ways in which people can access the voting system, because for many, digital is the usual way to apply for services, whether private or public. That is what they expect and their default. Similarly, there are groups of people for whom applying on pape…”

“I agree with my hon. Friend. An issue raised during the election was that the period for applying did not allow much time for many families to apply who had booked to go away at the beginning of the school holidays. The Bill would make online applications easier and speedier.”

“I commend the efforts of my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh North and Leith (Tracy Gilbert) to ensure that we debated this issue today. We must continue to break down the barriers to voting, to ensure increased engagement with and turnout at every form of election in all the nations of the UK. In my first speech i…”

“I agree that there are benefits from the Bill in all seasons. I realise that I have now set Members the challenge of intervening to speak about spring and autumn. In winter, there are fewer daylight hours and it is colder, and people may not want to go out in the dark. The Bill would make it easier for them to access p…”